TED演讲：我为什么划船横渡太平洋(8)

 　　But, as I was approaching the end of my water reserves, luckily, our courses were converging¹. 但是正当我储备的水接近枯竭时，我们幸运地碰到了一起。

　　They were running out of food; I was running out of water. 他们没有了食物，我没有了水。

　　So we liaised by satellite phone and arranged to meet up. 我们用卫星电话取得了联系，安排见面。

　　And it took about a week for us to actually gradually converge². 大约一周以后，我们才真正会了面。

　　I was doing a pathetically slow speed of about 1.3 knots,  我划行的速度慢的可怜，只有1.3海里，

　　and they were doing only marginally less pathetic speed of about 1.4: it was like two snails³ in a mating dance.  而他们的最低速度也少于1.4海里，就像两只蜗牛在缓慢地跳着交欢舞。

　　But, eventually, we did manage to meet up and Joel hopped⁴ overboard,  不管怎么样，我们最终还是会面了，乔伊跳下船，

　　caught us a beautiful, big mahi-mahi, which was the best food I'd had in, ooh, at least three months. 为我们抓住了一条漂亮的大鲯鳅鱼，这是我在三个月以来吃到的最好吃的东西。

　　Fortunately, the one that he caught that day was better than this one they caught a few weeks earlier. 我们很走运，那天抓到的鱼要比几个星期前他抓到的那要好。

　　When they opened this one up, they found its stomach was full of plastic. 当他们宰鱼的时候，发现鱼的胃里全是塑料。

　　And this is really bad news because plastic is not an inert⁵ substance. 糟糕的是，塑料是惰性物质。

　　It leaches⁶ out chemicals into the flesh of the poor critter that ate it, 可怜的小生物吃下这些塑料，而后塑料分解出的化学物质进入他们的肌体里，

　　and then we come along and eat that poor critter, and we get some of the toxins⁷ accumulating in our bodies as well. 然后我们再吃那些可怜的生物，然后这些有毒物质也会在我们的身体里积攒起来。

　　So there are very real implications for human health. 这也会对我们人类的健康造成潜在的危害。

　　I eventually made it to Hawaii still alive. 最后，我还是活着到了夏威夷。

　　And, the following year, set out on the second stage of the Pacific, from Hawaii down to Tarawa. 转年，我又出发，进行我横渡太平洋的第二个阶段，从夏威夷到塔拉瓦。

　　And you'll notice something about Tarawa; it is very low-lying. 你们也许对塔拉瓦有所了解，它的海拔很低。

　　It's that little green sliver⁸ on the horizon, which makes them very nervous about rising oceans. 它就像地平线上的一小段绿线，这使得他们非常担心海平面的上升。

　　This is big trouble for these guys. They've got no points of land more than about six feet above sea level. 对这些人来讲，这是个大麻烦。在高于海平面六英尺的地方就没有立锥之地了。

　　And also, as an increase in extreme weather events due to climate change,  然而，极端天气的增多导致气候变化，

　　they're expecting more waves to come in over the fringing reef, which will contaminate their fresh water supply. 巨浪也会随之增多，巨浪淹没岸礁，就将导致他们的淡水源受到污染。

1 converging   

adj.收敛[缩]的，会聚的，趋同的v.（线条、运动的物体等）会于一点( converge的现在分词 )；（趋于）相似或相同；人或车辆汇集；聚集

参考例句：

• Plants had gradually evolved along diverging and converging pathways. 植物是沿着趋异和趋同两种途径逐渐演化的。 来自辞典例句
• This very slowly converging series was known to Leibniz in 1674. 这个收敛很慢的级数是莱布尼茨在1674年得到的。 来自辞典例句

2 converge   

vi.会合；聚集，集中；(思想、观点等)趋近

参考例句：

• The results converge towards this truth.其结果趋近于这个真理。
• Parallel lines converge at infinity.平行线永不相交。

3 snails   

n.蜗牛；迟钝的人；蜗牛( snail的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I think I'll try the snails for lunch—I'm feeling adventurous today. 我想我午餐要尝一下蜗牛——我今天很想冒险。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Most snails have shells on their backs. 大多数蜗牛背上有壳。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 hopped   

跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花

参考例句：

• He hopped onto a car and wanted to drive to town. 他跳上汽车想开向市区。
• He hopped into a car and drove to town. 他跳进汽车，向市区开去。

5 inert   

adj.无活动能力的，惰性的；迟钝的

参考例句：

• Inert gas studies are providing valuable information about other planets,too.对惰性气体的研究，也提供了有关其它行星的有价值的资料。
• Elemental nitrogen is a very unreactive and inert material.元素氮是一个十分不活跃的惰性物质。

6 leaches   

n.（将化学品、矿物质等）过滤( leach的名词复数 )；（液体）过滤，滤去

参考例句：

• People consume it when it leaches from plastic into baby formula, water or food in container. 当它被从塑料中经沥滤而入婴儿配方奶粉、水或罐装食品当中的时候，人们将其摄入。 来自互联网
• After this article uses is also the microwave pretreatment, leaches the method with the solution. 本文采用的也是微波预处理后用溶液浸取的方法。 来自互联网

7 toxins   

n.毒素( toxin的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The seas have been used as a receptacle for a range of industrial toxins. 海洋成了各种有毒工业废料的大容器。
• Most toxins are naturally excreted from the body. 大部分毒素被自然排出体外。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 sliver   

n.裂片，细片，梳毛；v.纵切，切成长片，剖开

参考例句：

• There was only one sliver of light in the darkness.黑暗中只有一点零星的光亮。
• Then,one night,Monica saw a thin sliver of the moon reappear.之后的一天晚上，莫尼卡看到了一个月牙。